


Late at Night in the Soft Warm Glow

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s02e14 The War At Home, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-05-23
Updated: 2006-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-30 12:46:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15097019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Donna thinks about Josh and the White House at night, afterThe War at Home.





	Late at Night in the Soft Warm Glow

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

 

TITLE: Late At Night In The Soft Warm Glow (1/1)  
AUTHOR: Laurel A.  
SPOILERS: Everything up to, and including, The War At  
Home  
RATING: PG  
DISCLAIMER: I don't own or have any rights to any of  
these characters. They belong to Aaron Sorkin, Warner  
Brothers, NBC, and probably some other folks as well,  
just not me.  
ARCHIVE: Archive anyplace, just let me know.  
SUMMARY: Donna thinks about Josh and the White House  
late at night. Takes place on Donna's way home after  
leaving Josh in his office with Joey and Kenny at 2am.  
AUTHORS NOTE: Thanks as usual to the  
Amazing-Cool-Michelle, and to Peek who sits patiently  
at my feet while I type away.

This is the next installment in the as yet unnamed  
series by Michelle Hoffmann and myself:

Roles by Laurel A.  
Masks by Michelle H.  
Donna Moss Talks About Sex and Joey Lucas by Laurel A.  
Josh Lyman Talks About Strategy by Michelle H.  
Perfect Clarity by Michelle H.

After two long days and nights with Joey Lucas here,  
the power outage, disappointing polling numbers in the  
5 districts that Josh was worried about, and the  
crisis in Colombia, I am ending this day driving home  
a little after 2am feeling tired, emotionally worn  
out, and pensive.

I am thinking about how I love the White House late at  
night when it's really dark out. The West Wing has a  
distinctive feel in those dark, silent hours. While  
the rest of the country is out there sleeping, quiet  
and peaceful, we are bathed in light; important things  
happen in the historic rooms of the West Wing, in the  
hallways, in the offices.

Josh usually has his overhead lights off and just his  
incandescent lamps on. They give his office a soft,  
warm, glowing feel. Which is kind of the way he  
looked tonight, and just the way I felt when he looked  
at me just before asking why I was trying to fix him  
up with Joey Lucas.

For some reason during those late nights I sometimes  
get more confidence to speak up about the policy  
issues at hand and I like that, I like letting Josh  
see that part of me. I like it when I feel  
comfortable telling him what I think, comfortable  
telling him that the Colombian situation is a  
no-brainer. And I like it when he talks things  
through with me and we discuss how my humanitarian  
passions are a bit faulty when it comes to foreign  
policy. To solve the dilemma of this and how not to  
give away the keys to the Situation Room, I told him  
I'd draw a line. He asked me where, and in that tiny  
moment, standing there in his doorway, it all came  
together for me. I realized that when passionate  
matters are involved, there is no way to draw a clean  
line. Any line that gets drawn is arbitrary and  
useless; the passionate things in life won't stop for  
lines.

I had come in this morning already starting to feel  
the feebleness of the line that I had tried to draw  
(also known as the Get Josh To Ask Joey Out Mission).  
That was the line I was using to steel myself against  
caring about Joey Lucas being in town and whether Josh  
would ask her out.

So, I was caught out in the open, in those soft warm  
lights in Josh's office, when he asked me about it  
tonight; and it was Real-Josh asking. Real-Donna was  
thrown by this. I tried to give him my best  
performance of Fake-Real-Donna when I told him that I  
thought they'd make a good couple. It came out  
automatically and defensively. Then Quirky-Assistant  
took over when the actual Real-Donna got scared  
because she had no Real Answer. Quirky-Assistant  
blathered about matching monograms and towels.

I was expecting Exasperated-Josh to get mad, but I  
guess sometimes the late nights leave us all feeling a  
bit contemplative because all he said was, "Fine."  
Which scared Quirky-Assistant away even more than any  
exasperated answer I deserved for such a moronic  
tirade about towels. After that, Quirky-Assistant  
took the rest of the night off.

For all my intellectualizing and heartfelt maturity  
about wanting Josh to find some comfort and safety  
with Joey, now, on my late night drive home, my  
confidence has been shaken and my defenses are down.

The reality that I do care very much that Joey Lucas  
is in town has come sneaking up on me. It crept into  
my heart when I wasn't ready for it. It waited until  
I was physically and emotionally tired, and just when  
I thought I had barred it from entering, it came in.  
So now it sits, pointing, hinting, and demanding the  
acknowledgement of the other thing that has crept in  
there - Josh. It's a heavy feeling to have those two  
things there feeding off of each other, jealousy and  
attraction. My heart is exposing itself to me and I  
am not sure I am not completely surprised and scared  
of what it is showing me.

  


End file.
